Recently, Milk & Honey featured the amazing work that Mercy Ministries do. We got in touch with Arianna Walker, the director at Mercy Ministries UK to talk life, love and what inspires her. It was in insightful discussion. Check out below what is inspiring woman had to say:
How did you get involved with Mercy Ministries and can you remember a time you really caught the vision of the organisation?
I heard Nancy Alcorn speak many years ago at my home church and as I listened to her speak, I knew that I wanted to be involved somehow. There came a time when my younger sister Debbie was going through a very difficult period. She came to live with me and my husband when she was 15 years old and during this time she told me that she had been abused for three years by a man who had befriended her when she was 12. I gave her one of Nancy’s books; ‘Mercy Moves Mountains’ and 18 months after reading it, she was on a plane- the first girl from the UK to be accepted onto the Mercy programme in Nashville, Tennessee. When my sister came back from Mercy Ministries in America, she was transformed- she plugged into church and met her husband and now 12 years after she graduated from Mercy Ministries, she is the Programme Director of Mercy Ministries UK.
What’s been your biggest trial in your career?
My ongoing greatest challenge is managing the many demands of my life; leading an organisation, being a wife and a mother, writing books, speaking at events, constantly pushing past my comfort zone, so that I don’t become a ceiling to the growth of the organisation. My anchor has been the scripture in Matthew 11 in the Message Bible: ‘Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Which bible characters do you most want to emanate?
Apart from Jesus?! Probably those who reached beyond their human failings and insecurities and embraced who God was calling them to be. King David who was constantly surrounded by enemies, yet found His strength in God, Job who worshipped a God he thought had forgotten him. Esther who risked her life to save a nation, Gideon who despite feeling woefully inadequate trusted God enough to go to war and fight with only 300 men. Mary who said: ‘Be it unto me as you have said’, knowing that she would face gossip and ridicule for her ‘immaculate conception’. They fill me with a sense of wonder that God would use the ordinary to peform the extraordinary…
What would your advice be to someone who feels a similar call on their life to the one you have pursued?
Just take one step at a time, do what’s in your hand to do and get around people who will grow you, challenge you, inspire you and constantly place a demand on you to keep pushing past the self imposed limits we all place on ourselves. Plus get planted in a local church- planted in the house they will flourish, the bible teaches us and this has certainly been true for my life.
What would you tell your 17-year old self given the chance?
If you value the praise of man, the criticism will destroy you. Seek only the honour of God, not the honur of man. In other words, get over yourself, there’s more important things to be thinking about than who likes you and who doesn’t. There is a world to reach and you have a part to play in it, so quit whinning about stuff that is meaningless and go make your mark. (I often talk to myself like this by the way)
Which writers or books inspire you?
The Bible has to be top of the list- predictable but true nonetheless! Books that have been pivotal to my journey include: Joseph Prince’s book Destined to Reign, Bill Johnson’s book ‘Strengthen Yourself In The Lord’ and ‘When Heaven Invades Earth’, and then for fun I read a constant flow of fantasy adventure stories- the typical unassuming hero or heroine finding themselves caught up in a fight against evil with all sorts of challenges along the way.
We really enjoyed hearing what this awesome woman had to say, and hope, like us, you too can glean from her wealth of experience, applying much of what she said to your own life! You are loved x